The Frenchman, whose move to Elland Road in 2020 from RB Leipzig is still subject to review by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, joined FC Basel in the Swiss Super League last month.
Augustin is out of contract with Nantes, making him a free agent, but three weeks into his stay at Basel, the 25-year-old picked up an injury.
His club announced that Augustin tore a ligament in his right foot while working out in their preseason training camp. The injury occurred without a catch, and an MRI revealed that the extent of the problem will keep him out for several weeks.
This latest edition continues the trend Augustin has endured since his loan move to Leeds in January 2020. He was brought in to compete with Patrick Bamford for the number nine role in Marcelo Bielsa’s team, but a calf problem and failure to return to full fitness meant are that he played only 48 minutes of football in the Championship.
Bielsa was pleased to see Augustin leave Elland Road and return to his parent club before the season resumes after the enforced break due to Covid-19. Although the Leipzig contract had a €21 million buyout clause if Leeds were promoted, this became a point of contention between the two clubs.
Leeds felt their commitment had been voided as they were promoted after their original loan deal expired on June 30, thanks to a three-month break in the world football calendar. Leipzig disagreed, FIFA supported the German club’s position, and Leeds appealed and took it to CAS.
Read more
Read more
Leeds United want Feyenoord Luis Sinisterra with two possible transfers before…
The four-hour hearing in Lausanne, Switzerland, was held in March and the result has not yet been announced, but Leipzig believe they will come out on top.
Speaking to Frankfurter Allgemeine after the hearing, Leipzig’s commercial director of sport Florian Scholz said: “RB Leipzig have again made their views clear at the CAS hearing. We still consider ourselves in the right and are therefore very confident in the written verdict.”
However, the dispute has not affected Leeds’ ability to do business with the Red Bull Group. They have already bought RB Salzburg pair Brenden Aaronson and Rasmus Kristensen this summer, for a combined fee of £35m, and are close to finalizing a move for defensive midfielder Tyler Adams from Leipzig.
As for Augustin, he left Leipzig to join Nantes in the summer of 2020 but has continued to struggle with fitness.
Antoine Kombouaré dropped him to the reserves in February 2021 after making just three brief cameos in Ligue 1 that season, only returning halfway through the following campaign. In January this year, it was revealed that Augustin had long suffered from COVID and Guillain-Barré syndrome, a condition that causes muscle weakness.
Despite returning to Nantes in the second half of last season, Augustin still only managed 77 minutes of senior league action before leaving in the summer to join Basel.
